Chapter 17
721 Words
CHAPTER 17
The night was a complete and utter disaster. The minutes had crawled by, Lucas hyper-aware of the fact that Shannon and Marcie were watching his every move while pretending not to. Oona laughed at him, while he squirmed uncomfortably.
“Don’t look now, darling. You’re getting the evil eye, again.” She took another sip of her martini and leaned forward in the chair. “Or perhaps it’s aimed at me…” She laughed delightedly at the idea, then sat back in her chair. “What do you think? Should we give her something to really be jealous about?”
Lucas was pretty sure the panic he felt at that idea was written clearly across his face. He was in enough trouble already.
“No? Perhaps I should slip a love potion into her cookies the next time she comes in? I could keep you regularly supplied with your standing order for the coffee shop.”
Lucas laughed and felt himself relax a little. At least Oona was being a good sport about the whole mess. They’d both quickly realized they had no chemistry and had spent most of the evening talking about business.
“I’ve never been one to take the easy way out.” And in this, he was willing to do the work. But he wasn’t going to try to convince Shannon that they belonged together. If she couldn’t trust him, there was no way they could build anything real.
“How long have you been in love with her?”
Lucas tensed again, checking to make sure the rest of his table’s attention was elsewhere.
“Is it that obvious?” The last thing he wanted was for his friends to know how he really felt about Shannon. Especially since Shannon and her friend were back to shooting daggers with their eyes. Until he was sure she felt the same way about him, he would keep up the appearance that they were casual. No way did he want to see the pity in his friends’ eyes if things blew up around them.
“To me? Yes. To them?” She waved a manicured nail in the direction of his two friends, who were arguing about beer again. “I think your secret’s safe for the time being. But perhaps you’d better go kiss and make up. If you run, you just might be able to catch her.” Her eyes danced as he whipped his head around and let out a curse. Shannon had paid up and headed out the door while he’d been distracted.
“I’ll pay your bar tab and make your excuses if you double the cookie order for your opening day.”
He laughed out loud. She was a shark in designer clothing. “Done.” And with a quick kiss on her cheek, he grabbed his coat and headed for the door, ignoring the chorus of protests from his friends.
Shannon sat in the middle of her apartment floor, looking around at the mostly empty space. She really needed to get some furniture. She was holding off. If she didn’t find a permanent position in town soon, she’d need to relocate to wherever she could get one, and it seemed silly to waste a bunch of money on furniture she might not need.
She’d been spending all her time at Lucas’s or Isaac’s anyways. It hadn’t been an issue, until now.
But now she was sitting on the floor of a mostly empty apartment in the dark. Crying.
So much for “bigger and better things” this year. Less than one month in, she’d managed to make her life infinitely more complicated, nabbing herself a broken heart in the process. She had no trust in her ability to judge anyone’s character anymore.
She was on her feet before she realized the pounding on the door was probably Lucas. Speak of the devil. He was the only one who would come by so late.
“Shannon? Are you in there?”
Maybe if she didn’t answer, he would just go away.
“Shannon? I just want to talk to you. It’s not what it looked like tonight.” Yeah, right. The last thing she needed right now was to have him look her in the eyes and lie to her. Again.
She hugged her knees close to her chest and let the tears stream silently down her face. Monday, she’d start looking for work—and a new apartment—a little further afield.
Coming home to Rivers End had seemed like a good idea. But this just wasn’t going to work.
- Writer
